Susan Granger’s review of “The Saintliness of Margery Kempe” (Off-Broadway at the Duke on 42nd)
Playwright John E. Wulp’s episodic comedy revolves around the misadventures of Margery Kemp (Andrus Nichols) a late 14th century English housewife who utterly fails at running a brewery in Bishop’s Lynn, north of London in Norfolk.
Determined to make her mark, she then decides to leave her husband John and six children to become a saint, which should not be difficult if she can perform a ‘true’ miracle – like surviving unscathed when a church collapses – in addition to having miraculous ‘visions.’
So, after contacting the seductive Devil – a.k.a. the Man in Black (Vance Quincy Barton) – it’s off to Jerusalem, where Margery bucks ecclesiastical propriety, among other amusing things, following Friar Bonaventure (Jason O’Connell) and his picaresque companions from Yarmouth to the Holy Land.
Shakespeare once said, “All’s well that ends well,” but, unfortunately, this doesn’t. Wulp’s third act suddenly gets all-too-serious, proclaiming, “Life is a prostitute and death is a whore.”
The real Margery Kempe was a Christian mystic who left her husband and 14 children to undertake pilgrimages, supposedly honoring Jesus Christ. Never having joined any particular church, she was chastised for preaching without holy sanction.
Supposedly illiterate Ms. Kemp dictated “The Book of Margery Kemp,” which was discovered in 1934 in an ancient manor house in Derbyshire and is said to be among the first English-language autobiographies.
Written in 1958, this tepid play remains somewhat unfocused, despite Austin Pendleton’s fervent direction and a memorable performance by Andrus Nichols. Yet it’s a bit disconcerting to update the heroine to a spunky, self-righteous, contemporary woman.
Tackling multiple roles, the excellent ensemble includes Timothy Doyle, Pippa Pearthree, LaTonya Borsay, Michael Genet, Ginger Grace and Thomas Sommo.
Working with the Perry Street Theatre company, now 90 year-old playwright Wulp designed the sparse black-box set with minimal props, relying on the lighting by Jennifer Tipton and Matthew Richards to bring it to life, along with Barbara A. Bell’s costumes and Ryan Rumery’s music/sound effects.
FYI: Originally performed in 1959 Off-Broadway at the York Playhouse, the cast included Frances Sternhagen, Gene Hackman, Charles Nelson Reilly, Patricia O’Connell and George Maharis.
The Saintliness of Margery Kempe” runs through Sunday, August 26, at the Duke Theater on 42nd Street.